Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane was born in France on the 23-rd of June 1972. His parents of Algerian descent had a total of five children. As a kid, school was not his strength so he turned to football. At the age of 16, he was recruited to Cannes. One year later, Zidane made his debut with the club’s senior squad in the French First Division. Zidane was signed by Bordeaux in 1992. There, he reached the UEFA Cup final in 1995/96 and attracted the attention of European powerhouse Juventus.

“He’d go past one, two, three, five, six players – it was sublime. His feet spoke with the ball” Jean Varraud, former coach who discovered Zidane

After moving to Italy, success followed promptly. By 1996, Zidane had the UEFA Cup, European Supercup and the Intercontinental Cup under his belt. Between 1997 and 1998, Juventus won Serie A and reached the Champions League final for two years in a row.

When Real Madrid purchased Zinedine Zidane in the summer of 2001, he became the most expensive player of all time. The Spanish club paid a whopping $66 million for his transfer. In the 2002 season, Zidane led Real Madrid to Champions League glory by scoring the spectacular winning goal in the final.

In international football, Zidane entered the spotlight after helping France win their first World Cup title in 1998, scoring two goals in the final against Brazil. He was also instrumental in Euro 2000 as France won their second European title. World Cup 2002 was a disaster for Zidane and France was eliminated in the group stage. Struggling with an injury at the time, he watched most games from the sideline. Two years later at Euro 2004, France failed to impress again and was knocked out by tournament surprise Greece.

Zidane retired from international football after Euro 2004, but returned again in the wake of World Cup 2006. He dazzled in 2006, carrying France all the way to the final against Italy. Zidane was ejected for headbutting an opponent and his country eventually lost the final on penalties.

Individually, Zinedine Zidane has earned every major player award. He won the prestigious European Player of the Year award in 1998 and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003. Zidane is one of the most skillful and technically gifted players of all time. His style is simple and elegant. Zidane is great at applying his skills under pressure while making it look effortless.